PS. I'm Still Here

25.

     Castiel stands in front of his creative writing class teaching and trying not to look directly at Dean the whole time. Why is this so hard? He's been teaching for two years. Where does he usually look? He's teaching a poetry unit since he's a sucker for poetry. He keeps making eye contact with Dean and he's really hoping that he won't think anything of it.

     "Alright if everyone could take a look at the poem I handed out at the beginning of class. Touched by An Angel by Maya Angelou is a beautiful poem and I'd like you all to spend the rest of class annotating it. Then I want a one page essay on my desk at the beginning of next class. I'd love to know what you all think the deeper meaning of this poem is, " Castiel says to the class.

     After about twenty more minutes he notices that most of the class seems to be finished so he dismisses class earlier. He's looking down and packing up his things when he hears someone clear their throat. He looks up to see Dean right there staring at him. Castiel looks at his eyes never noticing how green they are until now.

     "Uh, sorry Professor Novak I just have a quick question," Dean says.

     "Right, I have an answer but you should probably go first," he says trying not to stare at Dean's lips.

     "Well on the last poem we wrote an essay on I had trouble figuring out what to say and you wrote that I need to dig deeper but I'm not really sure what that means."

     "Well Dean I really liked what you had written but I think you missed the point of the assignment. I don't want a summary of the poem, I want to know what the poem means to you personally. I want to hear your interpretation of the message of the poem. Does that make sense?"

     Dean clears his throat. "Yeah I think I know what you mean. Thanks, see you next class," he says and walks towards the door.

     "Yeah, bye Dean," Castiel says softly and he stares at the door for a moment after Dean has already left. He's snapped quickly out of his thoughts when he notices the philosophy professor, Molly standing in the other doorway. 

     "I was just coming in to see if you had an extra stapler in this classroom. Didn't know you had a meeting with a student in here today," Molly says and raises an eyebrow.

     "Oh no, it wasn't a meeting he just had a quick question," Castiel says softly. Molly is pretty much known for being the most nosy professor on campus. She spreads rumors about everyone. Castiel usually tries to  avoid her.

     "Mhm, I thought you didn't allow students to ask questions about their papers unless they make an appointment with you. Heard you're pretty strict about it, actually," Molly says.

     "It was just a quick question. What are you implying?" Castiel asks trying to seem stern.

     "Nothing yet, just thought it was odd that's all. Sorry to interrupt, you can carry on staring at the door now," she says and walks out.

     Castiel sighs in relief and finishes packing up his things.